Несъедобные обеды американских школьников

[peacetraveler22]

At my school, there was no cafeteria. Each morning, my mom awoke early and packed lunch for my sister and me. It grew monotonous, eating the same sandwiches and fruit each day. Secretly, I dreamed of being like my friends who went to public schools, lining up each day to have some old woman with a net around her hair throw slop on my plate. In the U.S., there's constant debate over what school children are fed in the cafeteria. A lot of schools have removed snack and soda machines, and guidelines about nutritional values for school meals are always shifting. Over the weekend, I looked at the menu from my nephew's elementary school, listing the meal choices for each day in the month of May. Common choices include pizza, tacos, hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken nuggets and pastas, all served with some type of vegetable and potatoes or rice. There's always one healthy option like grilled chicken or fish, and a wide-variety of fresh fruit is available for purchase. Yet only the most disciplined of children would pick such options when there are tastier and more indulgent choices placed in front of them each day. All of this creates a very sad picture on the white tray. I grew curious, and began to read about school lunches around the globe, and here's what I discovered!

Look at the culinary delights thrown on these plates from Brazil, Greece and France. The Greek dish looks especially appetizing to me, while the plate from Ukraine has the same sad and pathetic appearance as the USA lunch, filled with greasy sausages, potatoes, cabbage, borscht and a pancake.


If the topic is of interest to readers, I can take my camera and join my nephew for lunch one day to explain more about what school kids in the USA eat. Of course, many parents still pack lunches for their children, so they aren't forced to eat this cafeteria slop each day. However, I think there's some level of excitement for most young kids to go through the cafeteria line each day, pick from a choice of foods, and create their own meals. It's a rite of passage for almost all American school children.

What did you eat during your school days? Cafeteria food, or homemade lunches? I have no idea what Russian children are served in cafeterias or dining halls, because I've never once visited a school there. Has it changed a lot from the Soviet era? What happens if the family has no money to pay for a child's lunch, does the Russian government subsidize it?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kamilfo_/]

Unfortunately it is true: looks not so delicious as on your photo... But still in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of former USSR in most of schools food like this and yes, given in separate plates. I've never met in Russia other ways of giving food. Even in the army.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of this type of drink, or tasted it.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm a lawyer so I write in a more formal matter. It's just a habit because of my profession. :)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

"Aunt Katya"...it's nice your remember her name. :) One of my relatives works in a school kitchen in the USA. Some of the food is freshly prepared, some of it frozen. And it's normal, almost all kids will pick junk food items over healthy choices. No matter the country. :)

[phd-paul-lector.livejournal.com]

My Russian friend living in Japan once posted photos of her son's school lunches; I cannot find these now but they were cute (and healthy, too)

something like this:









Factory-made o-bentos; and below is a link to a post with examples of school lunch from different countries, including Japan - but not factory-made o-bentos.

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Adorable! :))

[ssept8.livejournal.com]

It does you credit, because most russians understand only such a traditional language, which we learned it at school. Long-long time ago :)
When in 90 years I was sitting in IRC, I had a lot of problems in understanding, during slang :) It was a good time, anyway...

[maadmike.livejournal.com]

The situation is not that bad, the school is within 5 minute walk from our home and because of it, he doesn't go to lunch.

sorry, here's the link:

[phd-paul-lector.livejournal.com]

http://royal-ration.ru/blog/royal-ration/109/

[cfagnum.livejournal.com]

Вот я даже не знаю как так получалось, что в школьной столовой рыба была словно резиновой: плохо жевалась, как жвачка. До сих пор вспоминаю эту "резиновую рыбу".

[cfagnum.livejournal.com]

I don't miss school cafeteria at all! I don't think I missed something important :)
Besides, we had a system of duty at the school cafeteria. Every group (class) had a weekly duty to clean tables and remove dishes with remains of food. So every next week the next class was on duty. I still remember that terrible smell of rags from aluminum buckets, that were used to clean tables (believe me, it was TERRIBLE). Despite being away from eating school food I still was "on duty".

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Sounds like military bootcamp, not school! :)

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I can't believe this ordinary topic caused so many comments from readers!

[anna-sollanna.livejournal.com]

What an interesting topic have you raised! I have a lot to say about food from my school years. Usually I ate lunch from the school cafeteria, in some schools it included even soup (I used to go to 3 schools sequentially). The quality of food... Well, I can't say it was very tasty, but it was definitely not disgusting. I still remember the flavor of some dishes (like grey pasta with cheese, or potato puree made not on milk, but on water) because that time they seemed to me to be very tasty and I haven't tasted it since that. (The same I can say about soviet ice-cream made from milk, not cream) But the worst problem of school cafeteria was IMHO not the food quality, but the necessity for school children to be on duty in school cafeterias. We had to set table for lunch and then remove and wash dirty plates. It was such a toil (especially to carry heavy loaded stew-pans) that once I almost passed out. The only advantage of such a duty was that that day we didn't have to attend our lessons. Of course, it was not very often, maybe once a semester (because each a class of middle and senior school had to do it for a week) but it was very unpleasant (btw, our class duties was much more unpleasant, if you are interested I can tell you about them too...)
In senior school I switched to homemade sandwiches, as far as I remember because that time food in cafeteria became not free. Btw many children who got this food for free didn't eat almost all the food leaving it on their plates (when I was on duty some our school teachers asked me to collect meat rissoles thrown away by pupils for them, to feed their pets).
As for food examples from your picture I would definitely prefer a French one! But IMHO the Ukrainian one is not bad either (btw I can't live without eating soup, that is one more reason why I liked it)
The Greek dish looks not bad either, but I don't like rice as garnish (btw is the thing on the right top corner of it yoghurt? The one covered with pomegranate corns.) And I definitely won't eat a Brazilian one, it already looks too spicy for me...

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

I love spicy food and, yes, the Greek one contains yogurt with pomegranates. I like the taste of Greek yogurt very much, because it's thicker and creamier than other versions. I did not know that kids had duties in the cafeteria! It sounds like a military bootcamp, not school! :) What chores did you have in the classroom?

Me — i just love to eat tasty!

[creaze.livejournal.com]

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[khanid.livejournal.com]

Thanks! English was one of my favorite lessons in school (with astronomy and chemistry).

And Asia... Differences in culture :)
My father once told me a story.

There was one guy (Korean) who served in the army with my father (it was in times of Soviet Union, when father was a solder).
And once this guy (when he just arrived to the military base) suggested to other solders something like shish kebab. No one refused of course. While they were eating, one man ask where Korean found meat for kebab.
Father said it would be better to not ask about that. Korean said: "Well... I saw a stray dog at our base..." He didn't know that people really liked the dog, and dog liked solders as if they were owners... Since then, no one ate anything, suggested by this guy.

Real school food

[alienintheworld.livejournal.com]

Hey Shannon! Your posting reminded me of an instagram of one kid in Russia who takes pictures of his school lunches every day.
https://instagram.com/igor_kgv
I don't know about modern lunches (I graduated in 1991) but his pictures bring many memories from my soviet school cafeteria. This was the real thing, not what is depicted on your cover photo under Ukraine title. I think I never had blini (crepes) in school. We only had оладьи (fat pancakes) with sour cream and NEVER sugar (so I couldn't stomach them that way) and we weren't allowed to leave food on our plates so I had to stuff those stupid pancakes in my pockets to pass the дежурные (children on duty) and leave the cafeteria. Yeah, those elementary school troubles...

Re: Real school food

[peacetraveler22.livejournal.com]

Hello alien! :) Thanks! Another reader sent me the link to this kid's Instagram page. It's very amusing, esp. some of the comments about his photos. What happened if you didn't eat all your food? The Soviet teachers yelled at you, or spanked you with a ruler? :))

Re: Real school food

[alienintheworld.livejournal.com]

As far as I remember, there were дежурные (some children on duty) who stood at the doors of the cafeteria and sometimes were accompanied by a teacher,. If you were a slow eater (like I was when I didn't like the food) they wouldn't let you leave the cafeteria until you finished your meal. (Oh, those pancakes WITH sour cream and WITHOUT sugar were a nightmare for me!) And you couldn't just trash or leave your food either.. So they made you wait until the bell and then mercifully let you go (but now you were late for class). My mom still remembers many pieces of bread and hardboiled eggs that I brought home in my pockets, forgetting to toss them in a dumpster on the way home. :)

[buy-dream2013.livejournal.com]

я люблю больше черешню, ведро за раз могу слопать, но останавливаюсь )

[kasuku.livejournal.com]

Черешня тоже хороша:) Жаль, в ней часто водится живность.

[buy-dream2013.livejournal.com]

ой... какая живность? ... не пугайте меня )

[naysayer15.livejournal.com]

правда состоит в том, что все школы разные. И качество и состав ланча зависит от кучи факторов: частная/государственная школа, возраст учеников, регион, сезон, наличие собственной кухни и т.д. К тому же, много детей носит ланч с собой или покупает на месте. Очередной топик ни о чем, в котором разнообразная полоумная шваль обычно НЕ из России наверняка (просто не читал все 400+ комментов) что-то рассказает про ланчи в российских школах, в то время как 90% этого кагала к России вообще отношения никогда не имели и на её территории никогда не находились.

Re: Real school food

[naysayer15.livejournal.com]

ага, а специально натренированный кгб-ник следил за маленькими говнюками типа тебя и насильно запихивал тебе в рот молоко с клеем и полонием)))) полоумная шваль...я даже не заглядываю в профиль понимаю, что воняет с Усраины...опущенцы.